


May Doesn't Hug (Or Does She?)

by captainbrig



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: 5+1, But can be interpreted as platonic Philinda, But that's secretly a lie, Gen, Mama May and her Ducklings, Melinda May doesnt like hugs, Tiny bit of Philinda at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2016-02-18
Packaged: 2018-05-21 09:17:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6046176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainbrig/pseuds/captainbrig
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Melinda May received a hug, and one time she gave one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	May Doesn't Hug (Or Does She?)

5\. **Natasha**

Everything hurts. 

It's been two days since Maria called her and told her about- it's been two days. She'd tried to numb the pain with the good vodka she had stored in her cupboard, and then she'd moved onto the whiskey and then the scotch when the first two hadn't worked. She's almost positive that her liver is going to give out at any second, but she can't bring herself to care. It's not like there's really anything in the world for her anymore anyway. She's lying on her couch in a liquor-induced haze when she hears someone picking her lock. Immediately her fingers grasp her gun under the couch cushions, but when she sees the familiar glint of red hair, she releases her grasp. Natasha steps into the room her lips turned into a frown at the state she finds her friend in.

"Mel," she whispers, stepping forward and sitting next to her on the couch.

"Tasha. Did he suffer?" is all she asks, the words barely making it past her lips.

"Melinda..."

Melinda can feel the burn of the tears pressing at the backs of her eyes. "Did he suffer?" she reiterates, and Natasha's lovely face becomes strained.

"I think so. Fury said Loki's sceptre went...went straight through his heart, but he was still alive for a little while afterward," she chokes out.

Melinda sniffs wetly, turning to look at the young woman whom she had once known as a young, frightened girl, abused by the Red Room and forced to commit heinous acts until Clinton had found her. Natasha's face screws up, and in the next moment, she curls her arms around the older woman rests her head on her shoulder. Melinda can't bring herself to make her get off, not when she knows how much they're both hurting, and especially not when she knows that Natasha must truly be hurting to be silently crying in front of another person, even if she trusted her.

"Where's Clinton?" she asks.

"He went back home to Laura and the kids. I think he's going to try to break it to them slowly," she replies softly, her voice cracking a bit.

Melinda nods, her mouth tasting bitter with regret as the redhead remains wrapped around her for quite some time.

**4\. Trip**

Skye had been going on a bit of a rampage with a camera she'd found at the Playground, and she'd been surprising everyone by randomly popping up out of nowhere and snapping pictures of them. So far everyone had been compliant with flashing her a smile so far, everyone that is, except for May. May hasn't smiled in years, and as much as Skye had grown on her, she was not about to 'Say Cheese!' and grin for a silly picture. One night she and Trip had been down in the hangar doing some routine checkups on the Bus and the Quinjet. Just as they'd finished, and had stepped back onto the tarmac, Skye had appeared, grinning madly and holding the camera.

"Come on, May, just one picture? And you have to smile."

May had rolled her eyes, opening her mouth to say no, again, for the thousandth time, but Trip interrupted her before she could speak.

"You know, Agent May, I'm sure if you took this one picture smiling, Skye will leave you alone afterwards," he said with his most charming grin.

Melinda rolled her eyes. "Yes! Yes, I will. I swear, May, if you smile for just this one picture, I'll leave you alone and never take a picture of you again!" Skye says with a bright smile.

Melinda huffed, but then she looked at how happy Skye looked, and the large grin she sported, something that had been all too rare ever since Ward's betrayal. Finally she sighed. "Fine."

Skye fistpumped, and then brought the camera up to her eye and looked through. May put one hand on her hip and prepared to flash her most fake smile, but just then, Trip swung one of his arms around her neck and grinned at her. May wanted to tell him off, but Skye was grinning and May relented, smiling as Skye squealed from behind her camera, "Say Cheese!"

The picture ended up being one of her favourites, especially after Trip died.

**3\. Fitz**

Fitz is the first one to see her when she storms back onto base to speak to Phil about Hunter and his idiocy. He stares at her wide-eyed, his mouth opening and closing as though he wanted to say something, but he wasn't quite sure what. His hands were frozen holding what looked like a newer version of one of his dwarfs that he must have been tinkering with. She nods at him as she moves to walk past, but she freezes when she feels his hand close around her wrist. His other arm wraps around her briefly, and he squeezes just minutely. When he pulls back after a second, he flushes a bright red. For a moment, she is struck by how much Fitz looks more like a man and less like the boy that had boarded her Bus ages ago. The thoughts of the things he'd gone through until this moment had left a sour taste in her mouth, another reminder that she had failed to protect the people she cared about.

"Er, it's good to see you, Agent May."

Melinda watches him turn and scuttle back to the lab, and for a second, she feels a slight smile tug at her lips, before she remembers Hunter and Ward and Hydra and goddamn, where the fuck was Phil?!

**2\. Jemma**

The next time she's on base she passes through the lab, and the minute she enters, Jemma jumps up.

"Ah, May!"

And then she got an armful of babbling British scientist who on the outside appears as though nothing is wrong, but Melinda knows that when she looks into her eyes, there is so much pain hiding there. Her hug probably lasts a fraction of a second longer than Fitz's before she pulls away and May smiles at her briefly, because it was good to see Jemma, amazing, even. Especially after Phil had told her about the Monolith swallowing her and she'd felt so guilty for not being around then, because perhaps if she'd been there, no, she knows if she'd been there, she'd have had the stupid thing sealed in one of the vaults and not touched by anyone, at all. For the first time in a long time, May aches to take this young girl, and she is a girl by May's standards, into her arms because despite all the labels she's gained over the years about being ice cold and unloving, this ragtag group had become her family, and she loved them, even if the words would never come out of her mouth.

**1\. Daisy**

Her mood has admittedly not been the best, these last few weeks. She stomps onto the base, but before she can get far, a familiar head pops up.

"May?!"

And then she's barrelled into by Sk-Daisy, who wraps her arms around her in a tight hug, before stepping back, blushing slightly. May gives her a slight smile, surprised, because the last time she'd seen her they hadn't exactly been on good speaking terms. All at once she remembers everything they'd been through, and how much Skye had changed since they'd picked her up out of her van. She had changed, but it seemed that everything that she'd been through had only made her a stronger, better person, and for that Melinda is grateful, because she is all too aware of how they can change you for the worse. She feels an infinite sense of pride at the wonderful agent Daisy is becoming.

She'd been so caught up in her own thoughts that for a second she forgot why she'd been in a rush before.

"Where's Andrew?" she asks, and Daisy stops her babbling for a second.

"He isn't here. He's evaluating an Inhuman at an offsite facility," Daisy responds in confusion.

All May can feel is the dread in the pit of her stomach that has replaced any other feelings she may have had at seeing her former protege. 

**+1**

Daisy is the first one to appear, followed by Mack. The younger agent is immediately embraced by Lincoln, and May feels a small smile tug at her lips as she watches the two of them. Mack is hugged by Bobbi, and patted on the back by Lincoln, and May is glad to see the members of her team safe. The next person to appear is Phil, and she feels her heart stutter at the sight. He looks like he has literally been through hell, his face drawn and pinched and his prosthetic arm is gone (she's sure he'll tell her how that on happened later) but she cannot describe how happy she is to see him and know that he's not stuck on some weird-ass alien planet or that she didn't blow him up under Mack's order. That thought brings her such relief that she can't help herself when she walks up and flashes him a small smile, wrapping her arms around him, even though he's covered in disgusting alien dirt. They've hurt each other so much in the past year and she knows they have so much to talk about, but Phil has been in her life since she was eighteen, and despite being upset with him, she knows that she cannot face the things coming with Andrew without him. And he needs her too, especially after that ATCU woman. Even if she didn't like her, Melinda knows that she had meant a lot to Phil, and her murder at Ward's hands had really cut him to the quick.

They had a lot of stuff to work through, but Melinda knew that they'd get through it. They always did. Together.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reaching to the bottom! Leave a review and let me know how you liked it!


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